


You Burn All My Energy

by somedayoneday



Series: Don't Lose Your Head 'verse [2]
Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: Angst, Arguments, Dialogue Heavy, Long-Term Relationship(s), M/M, Unresolved Tension, hot space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 22:14:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17374226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somedayoneday/pseuds/somedayoneday
Summary: While Queen are in the studio recording Hot Space, Freddie is concerned that John and Brian seem to be going through a rough patch.(Set in the same 'verse as Don't Lose Your Head, but can be read as a stand-alone)





	You Burn All My Energy

**Author's Note:**

> Heads up that this is a short kind of 'snap shot' fic, and so the tension isn't exactly resolved by the end.

“Well, it’s certainly energetic,” Freddie declared, setting down the page of lyrics penned in John’s neat handwriting. John didn’t look over, sat on the drum rises and frowning a little as he plucked out the bass line to the new song.

This was a pretty typical situation. Since he couldn’t sing – or at least, didn’t like to sing – John usually brought his new songs to Freddie first so they could work out the vocals, and then Roger and Brian were pulled into the mix afterwards. Freddie wasn’t sure what Roger and Brian would make of this one though.

“Energetic in a good way?” John asked, voice unusually monotonous. It wasn’t much of a mystery what was bothering him.

“Well, I _did_ say I wanted music that would make people move. This certainly fits the bill,” Freddie replied truthfully, “But you know Rog and Bri are going to make a fuss about it.”

That certainly got a reaction out of John, who rolled his eyes and scoffed a little.

“How _are_ things going with Brian, darling?” Freddie asked, well-aware that it was dangerous ground, but he’d never been one to shy away from talking about what needed discussing.

Brian and John had been going steady for nearly ten years, and both of them could be such closed books that the tension building between them was barely noticeable to the casual observer. To Freddie, who had recorded nine albums with the couple, the atmospheric shift in the studio was palpable. Gone were the stolen kisses, and the subtle glances, and the fond look in Brian’s eyes whenever John shared a new song – most of which had seemed to be written about Brian, back in the early days, even if the pronouns were swapped out for the sake of keeping up the illusion. Freddie had never expected _creative differences_ would be enough of a wedge to drive the two of them apart.

“Things are going fine,” John muttered.

“ _You stand so tall, you don’t frighten me at all,_ ” Freddie read aloud from the written lyrics,  “That doesn’t sound ‘fine’ to me.”

“Freddie.” John’s voice had a warning tone to it, and his expression practically begged Freddie not to push this. Of course, Freddie pushed it.

“ _When I’m trying to talk to you, all you do is just talk back,”_ he continued, “Is that what’s happening between you and Bri? You know, you can talk to me about these things, darling.” John said nothing, so Freddie continued reading from the lyrics: “How about this one: _Fat chance-“_

“ _Freddie.”_ John’s voice was more insistent this time, and Freddie sighed.

“It’s a good song, I do like it,” he said gently, “I just wonder how Brian will feel about it when we show him.”

“I’m sure he’ll have something to say about it,” John shot back, standing up and walking over to take the lyrics from Freddie’s hands, “And of course, his opinion will be the right one.”

“Deacy, I wish you’d tell me what’s going on with the two of you,” Freddie sighed, reaching out to take John’s hand and give it a squeeze. The John in front of Freddie now was rather different to the quiet teenager Freddie had met ten years ago. For one thing, his hair was much shorter, and he dressed more in his own style, and he seemed less uncertain of his place in Queen these days. Thus far, Freddie had been happy to watch John grow into himself, like a proud mother hen, but he wasn’t so pleased to see those changes starting to cause friction between him and Brian.

“I’m just frustrated, I suppose,” John sighed, moving to sit beside Freddie, “We don’t- we _never_ seem to see eye to eye anymore. On anything.”

“Not even things outside of the band?”

“Nothing that’s important. We just argue. Whenever we spend time together, I’m exhausted afterwards, I hate it,” John said, and there was a very slight tremor to his voice as he finished off, barely there but it broke Freddie’s heart nonetheless.

“I’m sure it’s just a phase, darling. When did it start?” Freddie asked, turning where he sat so he could look at John properly.

“We started arguing more back when we were in the studio for The Game,” John replied hesitantly, “But it wasn’t so bad, then. We always made up afterwards. Then, when we started recording this album… It’s like he’s deliberately obstinate about every little thing! I get agitated just seeing him show up at the studio, because I know we’re going to argue, and I don’t want to but I don’t want to back down either.”

“What about back home? Or at the hotel, rather?”

That question gave John pause, and his expression settled into something controlled and blank – which Freddie knew meant he was particularly upset, enough so that he was determined not to show it.

“I got tired of fighting all the time, so I- Well, I’ve been sleeping in my own room the past week,” John muttered eventually, and despite everything that had been said up to that point – and all the tension he had noticed – that still shocked Freddie. Brian and John had always booked separate rooms when they stayed at hotels in an effort to stop the press from catching wind of the true nature of their relationship, but they never _actually_ used both rooms… Until now, apparently.

“I suppose I’ve been a bit of an arse too, about some things,” John was saying, and Freddie did his best to listen whilst frantically brainstorming solutions. After all, everybody knew sleeping in separate rooms was basically the precursor to a break-up, and the thought of that happening to Brian and Deacy was unacceptable. “And I’ve said mean things in the studio, but- it should be different, at home. It’s always been like that. We’ve always been able to disagree artistically and not let that ruin things in our private life… But then, I suppose that was just the case when _I_ was the one unhappy with a decision, and now the tables have turned he doesn’t like it because he can’t bloody compromise on anything, he’s so-“

John stood up abruptly as the tension in his voice ramped up to breaking point, stalking over to grab his bass and going back to plucking out the riff from his new song.

“Deacy-“ Freddie began, only to be cut off.

“Let’s just get the vocals ironed out,” John said tersely, “I’ll put in a guitar solo. Then he can’t complain.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I know it was just a short one, but the idea was pestering me and wouldn't go away, so I had to get it out. For anyone wondering, I would say that in "DLYH 'verse canon", Brian and Deacy do resolve their differences, but that's outside the scope of this one shot.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are appreciated!


End file.
